Stone-Ideas.com

The honoree states: “Stone is the material of the future alongside wood and clay”

He can undoubtedly be described as one of the masterminds of solid construction with natural stone, which is currently being discussed in many countries: in December 2024, Gilles Perraudin (born 1949) was awarded the French National Grand Prix for Architecture (Grand Prix national de l’architecture, GPNA) together with his son Jean-Manuel and his office Atelier Architecture Perraudin. The jury is made up of 20 renowned experts, the award is bestowed by the Ministry of Culture in Paris, and the press release from Minister Rachida Dati explicitly acknowledges the importance of Perraudin‘s ideas for building in times of climate change.

A small drawing on the office‘s website shows what is at the heart of Perraudin’s architecture: sun and wind, and, of course, shade and water, i.e. the conditions at the location of a building. Dealing with these resources, designing them, using but also respecting them, is a credo of the architects‘ based in Lyon, Vauvert (département Gard), and Senegal.

The Perraudins understand the term resources also as the materials from which a building is made. Their guideline is that the materials should come from the region and nature, as far as possible.

This is because such materials can then be recycled and reused, so they still have value for future generations, and there is no environmental damage when they are produced.

This applies to natural stone in particular.

Perraudin has always been on the side of the pioneers, for example, on the subject of housing and energy consumption: in 1980, he won the first European competition for passive solar energy.

For several decades, he has been experimenting with solid buildings in which natural stone is used as a load-bearing material rather than just as decoration for the façades, for example.

Architects in many countries have now turned their attention to this topic. Readers can find our reports by searching the webpage for “solid construction” or “massive construction.”

Perraudin writes on his webpage: “Stone remains the material of the future alongside wood and clay: abundant, economical, infinitely recyclable.” From a cost perspective, he mentions “automation of quarrying, ease of transportation, and mechanization on construction sites” as the strengths of this ancient building material.

The minister put it more emotionally: “With regard to building today, Perraudin gives the honorary title back to natural stone in particular.”

Speaking of the sun, as mentioned above: When Gilles Perraudin was invited through Stone-Ideas.com to give a lecture at the Xiamen Stone Fair in 2016, he had a small reception with white wine from his winery at the French pavilion.

This is another of his passions, and he has shown many times that it is possible to achieve low and constant temperatures for maturing wine without air conditioning in stone buildings.

Atelier Architecture Perraudin (French)

Ministry of Culture (French)

Photos: archive

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(05.12.2024, USA: 12.05.2024)